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Updated 01.27.12
The ACLU envisions a free, safe and just society, where civil liberties are secure
for all. Throughout our history, we have worked to ensure that constitutional
protections are extended to all and that opportunities for education, employment,
legal represen-tation, and political participation are not denied on the basis of
race.
What's Happening in Ohio
Ohio Legislature Plans to Enact Modern Day
Poll Tax
Thanks to the efforts of activists and advocacy groups, the Ohio General Assembly has
not yet passed House Bill 159,
which would restrict access to the polls for all Ohioans and for voters of color in
particular. However, the OGA will continue to debate the bill. HB 159 requires a voter
to show one of four kinds of government-issued photo ID and amounts to a modern day
poll tax for people who do not already have an ID. Research shows that this includes
more than 21 million Americans; a disproportionate number of whom are racial and ethnic
minorities.
More information about HB 159 and protecting your right to vote is available on our
Voting Rights page.
Puerto Rican Birth Certificates
After declaring their birth certificates issued prior to 2010 invalid, Puerto Rico
is facing a backlog of requests for new birth certificates. Without the documents,
many Puerto Ricans, who are U.S. citizens, are unable to obtain a state I.D., which
can be necessary for securing employment, voting, or accessing social services.
In January 2010, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico decided to begin issuing new, more
secure birth certificates, and by September of that year, they no longer recognized
certificates issued before 2010. However, the
Ohio BMV refused to recognize Puerto Rican birth certificates from April 2010,
well before many Puerto Ricans had their new documents. The ACLU of Ohio called on the
Ohio BMV to end this discriminatory policy.
Fairness Cannot Wait
People of color are grossly overrepresented at every step of the criminal justice
system, and nearly half of people incarcerated are black or Latino. In August 2010,
the ACLU of Ohio released a report that reveals the unfair policies and practices that
result in disproportionate incarceration of people of color in Ohio. “Reform Cannot
Wait: A Comprehensive Examination of the Cost of Incarceration in Ohio from 1991-2010"
also highlights the cost of these disparities for all Ohioans.
In June 2011, the ACLU of Ohio focused specifically on racial justice and drug policy
in the greater Cleveland area in "Overcharging, Overspending,
Overlooking: Cuyahoga County's Costly War on Drugs". The report shows that drug
policies are not enforced fairly based on the person’s race and where the person
lives and was made possible by support from the Drug Policy Alliance.
Racial Disparities in the Juvenile Justice System
Youth of color are more likely than their peers to be arrested, charged, adjudicated
delinquent, and detained in a juvenile facility. The ACLU, the ACLU of Ohio, the
Children's Law Center and the Office of the Ohio Public Defender are currently
monitoring these disparities, termed “disproportionate minority contact,”
and released a Report Card: Evaluating Juvenile
Justice in Ohio.
In 2007, the Department of Youth Services began an effort to monitor and reduce disproportionate
minority contact. The ACLU of Ohio is currently evaluating if these efforts have been
successful and plans to update the Report Card in Fall of 2011.
Citizens for a Safe and Fair Cleveland
The ACLU of Ohio is a founding member of Citizens for a Safe & Fair Cleveland,
a coalition created to work towards unbiased law enforcement and judicial equity as
related to drug laws.
In 2008, the coalition commissioned a study to examine the selective enforcement of
drug laws in Cuyahoga County.
Selective Enforcement of Drug Laws in Cuyahoga County, Ohio: A Report on the Racial
Effects of Geographic Disparities in Arrest Patterns finds that African
Americans and other minorities in the city of Cleveland are more often charged with
felony drug possession than their suburban peers.
Using the report as a resource, the coalition successfully lobbied Cleveland Mayor
Frank Jackson to change the city's procedure for handling drug paraphernalia cases
to reflect those followed by greater Cuyahoga County.
Resources
Visit our Juvenile Justice,
Immigrant Rights,
Criminal Justice,
Police Practices, and
Voting Rights issues pages for more
information about racial justice issues.
Check out our Publications
page for more resources on your rights during a police encounter.
ACLU Racial Justice Program, News and resources on education, racial profiling,
and other issues
Juvenile
Justice State Data Map, W. Haywood Burns Institute for Juvenile Fairness and
Equity
Human
Rights Watch Reports, Publications on racial discrimination in immigration and
incarceration
Policy
Matters Ohio, Publications on disparities in education and the criminal justice
system
The Job
Prescription: Examining Pervasive Joblessness Among African-American Men, Policy
Bridge, July 2008
The
Sentencing Project’s Racial Disparity Clearinghouse, News and reports on racial
inequalities in the criminal justice system
Read racial justice news releases and articles in our
News Center.
Browse our webcasts for racial justice-related programs:
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